To The Stars and Beyond
by StarrFlower
Summary: Alynna Bell has always wanted to be in Starfleet, but it's not all it's cracked up to be. Along with the dangers of space come the dangers of the heart. Will she and her best friend be able to surmount the obstacles and find what they're looking for?
1. Leaving

**A/N: Hey guys! New story! The beginning of this story takes place during the third year that Kirk attends Starfleet Academy. It may get a little confusing because it is in First Person but I will be changing perspectives. Each person will have a different symbol for when they are talking but every chapter will start with Alynna. Here's the list: ~*~= Alynna. *~*= Grace. /*/= Kirk. ^*^= Chekov. Just to make it a little easier I will give reminders. Ok, with that being said, here we go!**

"Starfleet?! What are you thinking, Alynna?" my dad yelled angrily. He was always like this when it came to me leaving home. Always. I'd barely even mentioned the _possibility _of me joining Starfleet and he goes all ballistic on me.

"I'm thinking that I'm gonna have to leave here someday, Dad! If I'm gonna leave then I want to do something productive! I'm not going to spend the rest of my life waiting tables at Gertrude's Classic Diner!" I didn't like arguing with my dad, but he could be so pig-headed sometimes.

Ever since my mom died seven years ago when I was ten, my dad has been a little protective of me. Ok, a lot protective. It's not like I blame him or anything, I just wish he'd back off sometimes.

He never lets me go out anymore because my mom was killed by some thug in a back alley one night as she was coming home from work. New York City is dangerous, but I can take care of myself. I have been for the past seven years. I cook, clean, wash clothes, everything, but my dad can't. He's been in a wheelchair for the past fifteen years: car crash.

"I don't want that for you either!" he retorted. "But space is even more dangerous than this damned city and I won't have you getting hurt!" I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. "And who's to say they would take you anyways?!"

"I've already taken and passed the test, Dad!" That shut him up pretty quick. "I've talked to a recruiter and he's invited me to come study at the Academy in San Francisco." His eyes began to tear up as his face fell.

"I see," he whispered, his voice barely audible. "I guess I can't stop you now." Slowly, I walked over and knelt beside his wheelchair.

"I'll be fine, Dad. Really, I will," I said, trying to comfort him. "I've already finished high school and everything. It's time for me to move on." He sighed deeply, but a smile slowly spread across his face.

"You have your mother's strong will," he said sadly. "I love you, sweetheart." I pulled him into a tight embrace as the tears started to roll down my face.

"Thank you, Daddy," I said. He patted me on the back as I pulled away. I didn't mean to spring it on him this late, but he never wanted to listen when I tried to talk to him about it. "My airbus leaves in an hour."

"You best get going now," he said, choking back the tears. I picked up my backpack that I'd left in the hallway.

"I called Aunt Maxine and she's gonna take care of you now," I said, hefting the bag onto my back.

"Hold on a second." he rolled away into the other room and shortly came back with a little black box in his hands. Slowly, he handed it to me. I opened it up and immediately felt I was going to cry again: it was my mother's locket. "She wanted to give it to you when you were ready," my dad said. I clasped it around my neck and leaned down to give him one last hug.

"Thanks, Daddy," I said one more time. "I love you so much." I pulled away.

"Go on now, sweetheart." He ushered me to the door. As I walked down the stairs I heard him call, "Be careful!", and then the door close.

This is it. I'm on my own now. The station wasn't too far from where we lived in the outskirts of Manhattan, and I had no mode of transportation anyways, so I just walked. When I got there, my recruiter was waiting.

"Glad you could make it," he said, smiling. He led me onto an airbus and got me seated. The airbus was packed full of other new recruits just like myself. As I waited, someone sat in the empty seat to my right.

She was young: probably only three or four years older than me. She had wavy blonde hair, crystal blue eyes, full lips, all the traits of a classic beauty, and just the kind of girl I'd always hated in high school. You know those types: the ones who think they're better than everyone else because all the guys want them and they sail through high school on popularity and nerds doing their homework. That was my first impression of her anyways. I know it's wrong to judge a book by its cover, but I couldn't help myself: she was too cookie-cutter.

After a couple minutes of my sizing her up before I even knew her name, she looked over in my general direction. Her hard eyes scrutinized my face. "You have very pretty hair," she blurted out. Wow, that was random. I swung my head around to look at her face-to-face.

"Thank you," I stated plainly. I looked at her shimmering golden waves of hair that reached just past her shoulders. "So do you." She smiled and I couldn't help but think of how perfectly straight her teeth were.

"I'm sorry, it's just that I have a fascination with hair," she said, slightly blushing. Ok, that's weird.

"Why?" I asked, confused.

"Well," she replied slowly, as if trying to think of how best to put it without seeming too strange, "people always compliment me on my own, so I like to find other people with pretty hair, like you. Would you mind if I touched it?"

"Sure," I replied warily, not entirely sure what to make of this girl. She'd looked like she would be the typical high school prep, but she was actually a little cuckoo.

She stroked a strand of my hair. "It's soft too," she said, "and very long." My hair reaches down nearly to my hips, of course it's long! "Oh dear, I haven't introduced myself yet." She held out a slender hand. "Grace Clarke," she said warmly. I hesitantly shook her hand and gave my own name.

"Alynna Bell," I said.

"Pleased to meet you, Alynna."

"Likewise." I was a little wierded out by her, but she was very nice, once you got past the…strangeness.

"So what are you going to study?" she asked. By now, the airbus had taken off and we were on our way to San Francisco.

"Signals Analysis," I said. "What about you?"

"Astrometrics." Wow. That's a hard field of study. It has to deal with studying star charts and all this navigation crap. I wouldn't have pegged her for that.

"Cool," I replied plainly. "So, you from New York?" Hey, I'm trying to be nice here.

"Oh no," she replied quickly. "I'm from a little town in Massachusetts called Deerhaven. It's very tiny; not even on the map. Are you?"

"I moved here when I was six," I said. "Used to live on Prince Edward Island up in Canada, but my dad wanted to raise me in America for some reason. So, we moved to New York City. He's regretted the decision ever since, but we never moved away."

"Why? What happened?" she asked in a concerned voice. I wasn't sure why I was telling my life's story to a total stranger, but it was nice to have someone to talk to for once.

"My mom was killed by a mugger four years after we moved," I said sadly, my voice a soft whisper. "He hasn't been the same since then. I've practically had to raise myself."

"That's awful," Grace breathed. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," I said. "I barely remember her anyways." With that, I fell quiet, only answering with simple two or three word phrases.

*~*

She was very pretty; the type of girl you see sitting alone in the shade that guys want, but are too afraid to let it be known. It was a sad sort of beauty. I think she'd look prettier if she'd smile.

Alynna had dark brown eyes framed by long eyelashes. Her hair was a midnight black and a soft, wavy texture. Her eyebrows were finely shaped, but they were pulled back in a sad expression. Her lips were full, and a soft, rosy pink, but they were turned down, never smiling.

She was beautiful, but sad.

I felt like she needed a friend, and I wanted to help her. I'd never known what it felt like not to have a friend, but I got the feeling that she had. She needed someone, and I was gonna be there for her.


	2. New Home

**A/N: Hey guys! Thanks to everybody who read the first chapter. I've heard that Grace and Alynna may be acting a little Mary-Sueish so I will try my hardest to make them not so perfect. In case you've forgotten, every chapter starts out in Alynna's perspective. Here we go! **

The Starfleet Academy was unlike anything Id ever seen. This place was huge! You could easily get lost if you weren't careful. And there were so many people! I quickly made many friends, but Grace remained the one that I reserved the title of "Best Friend" for. She was actually pretty cool once you got to know her better. We did practically everything together.

It was one sunny afternoon while we were eating lunch on the lawn when we saw him. I saw the other guy first, he was good-looking, but then I glanced at his friend. _He _was gorgeous! He had short-cropped brown hair and piercing blue eyes.

"Grace?" I said as she took a bite out of her sandwich. "Do you know who that is?" She followed my gaze and uttered a sound that resembled a dying cow. "I'll take that as a yes."

"That's Jim Kirk," she said, her tone slightly disgusted. "He's a cocky, arrogant, womanizer. Don't waste your time on him." Grace knew practically everyone at the Academy and I trusted her judgment. "Oh no," she whispered, "he's coming this way." Sure enough, he was striding over in our general direction. He would pass right by the tree we were sitting under, but there was a good chance he would see us.

He walked by and it looked as though he hadn't seen us, but his head turned our way right as we were about to go unnoticed.

"Crap," Grace whispered. I could see his eyes grow wide as he looked at Grace, and his expression didn't change as it shifted to me. That's weird. He slowed down a little, but he wasn't watching where he was going. Grace and I doubled over in laughter as he ran straight into one of the Administrators. While he was distracted, I stood up.

"Let's get out of here," I said. Grace readily agreed and we sped far away from the handsome Mr. Kirk.

/*/

_Kirk _

"I'm very sorry, Sir," I said for about the hundredth time to the angry glare I was receiving from the Administrator I'd knocked over.

"Come on, Kirk," McCoy said, leading me away. I glanced back at the tree and…Hey! They were gone! Where could they have gone to?

The girl with the black hair had been hot, but something had gone through me when I looked at the blonde one. There was something different about her: something that separated her from all the other girls around here. It was strange. I'd never experienced this sensation before.

"Hey! Kirk!" I heard McCoy's voice shout, snapping me away from my thoughts.

"What?" I snapped irritably.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." That was a lie. I was definitely not fine. That girl had really shaken me up. McCoy let out a "hmm" of thought.

"She _was _pretty," he said. My head snapped in his direction.

"What're you talking about?" I demanded. He slapped me hard over the back of the head. "Ouch!" I exclaimed.

"Don't play dumb with me," he said. "I saw you falling all over yourself when you looked at her. But like I said, she was pretty, and so was her friend." McCoy smirked and couldn't help but laugh. He could read me like an open book.

"Yeah," I sighed, "she was."

~*~

_Alynna _

Grace may have said that she didn't like Kirk, but I could see that there was something deep down inside her. She may not know it yet, but it's there.

After my first sighting of Kirk, I saw a lot more of him. He was hot, of course, but I began to see that Grace was right: he was an arrogant jerk. The first time I ever spoke to him was an unpleasant experience.

It was in the Mess Hall and I was standing in line, placing food on my tray. As I waited patiently for the line to move, he came up behind me. Oh joy, this is going to be fun. I ignored him as best I could, and it worked for a while. I started to pick up an apple, but his hand reached for it at the same time and ended up resting on top of my own. I shivered at the touch of his rough and callused hands. Slowly, I looked up into his blue eyes that were staring straight at me.

"Sorry," was all he said.

"It's fine," I said back, pulling my hand away. Even though it was the last apple, I could live without it.

"Here, you can have it," he said, proffering the red apple towards me.

"No, no, it's fine," I replied, moving on down the line. "You can have it."

"Really, I insist." Boy he was persistent. It's just an apple! Take the dang thing already! I decided it wasn't worth it so I just took the apple and placed it on my tray.

"Thanks," I uttered half-heartedly. We went along quietly for a few more minutes until he broke the silence.

"So, I've seen you around campus before, but I don't think we've ever met," he said.

"No, I don't think so," I replied. I really wasn't in the mood for this right now.

"Jim Kirk," he said, extending out a hand. Reluctantly, I took it.

"Alynna Bell," I replied shortly.

"Nice to meet you." I didn't say anything back. What was I supposed to say? '_Hey, nice to meet you. You're a jerk, leave me alone'_? I don't think so. I may not like the guy, but I'm not that rude. "So, you're in Signals Analysis?" How the heck did he know that?!

"Yup," I replied dryly, masking my surprise. "How did you know that?" He shrugged nonchalantly in that really cocky and annoying way that he had.

"I hang around there sometimes and I've seen you," he said. Okay, that's just a tad creepy. He's watching me now? "You do xenoluinguistics too?" he asked.

"Nope," I replied shortly. Why was he so interested all of a sudden? "You really don't have to be now that they have the Universal Translator."

"Oh," he replied. Another couple of minutes of awkward silence went by. "Look," he finally said, "it wasn't an accident that we met today." I looked into his eyes. Ok, stalkerish much?

"Um, eew," I could pretty much tell the two directions this was going in. "What are you, a stalker?"

"No, no, that's not what I mean," he explained hastily. "I just have been meaning to talk to you for a while."

"Uh huh," I said. "I get the feeling that you don't want to talk about decoding transmissions." He smiled and I felt my heart skip a beat. Whoa girl, pull yourself together.

"No," he admitted, "I don't." I walked away and headed toward an empty table, Kirk following close behind.

"Alright then, speak," I said, gesturing for him to sit across from me. "What is this all about?"

"It's about your friend," he said. "The blonde one." Oh dear, that could only mean Grace. This is _not _good.

"What about her?" I asked, hoping he wouldn't say what I thought he was going to.

"Well, I was wondering if you could possibly introduce us." Really? How pathetic is this guy? Going to the best friend to win the heart of the girl: so high school.

"How old are you, Kirk?" The question seemed to catch him off guard.

"Twenty-five," he replied. I pondered that for a moment.

"Uh huh," I said. "Well, my friend," (I was _not _going to give him Grace's name), "is twenty-one. She needs a real man. If you want to win her heart, I suggest you grow some balls and talk to her yourself." He stared at me, wide-eyed, as if surprised that I'd actually spoken to him that way. Yeah, I'm not as sweet as I look.

I grabbed my tray and left him sitting at the table alone. As I was walking out of the Mess Hall to meet Grace on the lawn, I ran into somebody, sending my food flying. Dammit! I knelt down to pick it up.

"Oh!" I heard the person exclaim. "Forgeev me. I vas not vatching vhere I vas goeeng." He had a really thick accent: Czech? Ukrainian? Russian?

"No, it's okay. I wasn't paying attention," I said. I looked up at him as he handed me back the apple that Kirk had given to me. "Thanks," I said. He looked really young: maybe the same age as me. His curly brown hair went out in all directions, and his dark blue eyes were friendly and inviting. His smile made me feel like I could trust him.

"No probleem," he said. I could feel myself starting to blush, so I quickly walked away. There are way too many guys here! What am I getting myself into?!


	3. An Unexpected Friend

**A/N: Hey everyone! So I know that Kirk may be acting a little O-O-C but, let me remind you that it is in fact a fanfiction, so I can change him if I wanted to. So I hope you enjoy this chapter! **

I've been at Starfleet Academy for six months now. Most of it was great. Grace and I spent a lot of time together when we weren't in class. I made new friends in the Signals Analysis family. Nyota Uhura was one of my closest friends: she shared my view of Kirk as an ill-mannered, arrogant, insufferable idiot.

I still thought Grace liked him, but she refused to talk about him. Whenever he was brought up in conversation, she wouldn't speak. If he ever came around to try and talk to her, she ran for the hills.

"She won't give me the time of day, Alynna!" Kirk yelled angrily. I'd decided to go and talk to him after Grace had denied him once again. I couldn't help but feel bad for the guy; he really liked Grace.

"I'm sorry Kirk, but you've got to keep trying. I won't talk to her for you," I said.

"The least you could do is tell me her name," Kirk argued.

"Alynna's right," McCoy said. The Medical Officer was sprawled out in a chair in the library. We'd become friends some time ago and, luckily, he agreed with me about the Grace-Kirk situation. "You're going to have to talk to her yourself if she's going to have any respect for you."

"But what can I do to get her to listen?" he huffed exasperatedly. "I don't understand why she hates me so much."

"She doesn't like you because you're an arrogant, cocky jerk. If you were a little nicer to people on campus, then perhaps she'd give you a chance," I explained.

"I'm a nice guy!" he yelled indignantly. I only sighed and looked over at McCoy.

"He'll never get it, will he?" I asked.

"Probably not," he replied. I walked over to the chair Kirk was lounging in and knelt down beside him.

"Look," I said, staring into his blue eyes. "I've decided I'm going to be nice to you and help you out."

"You'll talk to her for me?" he asked, his face lighting up.

"No." His face immediately fell again. "But," I said, "I will help you impress her. I'll show you how to get on her good side, okay?" He nodded enthusiastically. "Alright, I have to go to class now, but tomorrow is Saturday. We'll start then." With that, I left him and McCoy in the library. What am I doing?! This is gonna take a lot of work.

Hey, I just thought of something. I haven't seen that Russian guy a while. Wonder where he is…

/*/

_Kirk _

I waited impatiently on the front lawn of Starfleet Academy. Where is Alynna? After another ten minutes, she appeared. She was wearing normal clothes: tight jeans, a black t-shirt, and a type of shoe that I'd never seen before. Her long, black hair flowed out behind her as she came to meet me. Now that I really looked at her, I realized that she was just as beautiful as her friend, just in a different way. Whoa, slow down man. One girl at a time. Besides, Alynna hated me even more than her friend did. So why was she helping me?

"Hey," I said as she stopped in front of me. She looked me up and down, scrutinizing me. "What?" I asked.

"Nothing," she sighed. "Come on, let's go." Boy, she was pushy.

"So, what are we going to work on first?" She rolled her eyes as she led me down a path.

"You're manners, duh," she said impatiently. "You're as ill-mannered as a pig in his mud bath." Ouch.

"Hey," I said indignantly, "it takes a lot of work to act like a pig all the time. I would think that you'd have some appreciation for that." She whirled around, stopping dead in her tracks.

"Do you want my help or not?" she said angrily, putting her fists on her finely curved hips.

"Yes," I said.

"Ok then. Lesson #1: Don't argue with a lady! Or anyone for that matter," she said, bopping me on the forehead with her palm.

"How am I supposed to not argue with anyone?! That's impossible," I argued…Oops.

"You're arguing again!" She slapped me once more. "Stop it!"

"Ok, ok, I'm sorry. Would you please just stop hitting me?" I said, rubbing my forehead.

"That's better," she said, completely ignoring my question. "Now come on." It was the weekend, so we could go off campus. She led me down the street and into a restaurant that was fancier than any I'd ever been in. Although, that's not really saying much. We were seated and she stared at me imploringly.

"What are we doing here?" I asked, looking around in confusion.

"What do you think, numbskull? We're working on your table manners," she said. "The first step in becoming gentile is learning to eat properly."

"I know how to eat properly," I protested. She cocked an eyebrow and crossed her arms.

"Oh really?" At that moment our waiter came over to the table.

"Hi there, my name is Alex. I'll be your server today. What can I get you to drink?" He looked at me first.

"Yeah, gimme a beer," I said. That was just the way that I ordered, but Alynna was shooting me daggers with her eyes. The waiter turned to her next.

"And for you?" he asked. From the way he was looking at her, I could tell he was flirting, and it made me angry. But why? Alynna smiled sweetly. Wow, never seen that before.

"I'll just have a Coke, please," she said. The waiter left and her icy stare returned to me.

"What?" I asked innocently. She rolled her eyes and reached across the table, hitting me on the forehead again. "Ouch! Would you stop that?!"

"If you're going to act like a dog then I'm going to treat you like one. Every time you mess up, you'll be punished. You do something right, and I'll reward you." I didn't like the set-up, but it made sense.

"Fine," I said, defeated. "So what did I do wrong?"

"You were rude to Alex," she said matter-of-factly.

"Who?" Am I missing something?

"The waiter, duh."

"Oh. You remember his name?" That's slightly weird.

"Ugh! Just shut up, ok? Now listen. The first rule of table etiquette is: Be nice to the waiter or waitress. They're handling you're food, so be cordial. You don't just say 'gimme whatever!' That's uncouth and insulting. You say 'please' and 'thank you'. Got it?"

How was I supposed to know that?! I've never been in a formal restaurant before! "Got it," I said. Damn, this is gonna be a lot of work. The waiter came back after we'd had a chance to look at the menu and gave us our drinks.

"What can I get for you to eat today?" he asked Alynna. He kept looking at Alynna in a way that was making me upset. Wait, why am I being so protective?

_You're not being protective. You're jealous, _a voice said inside my head.

_Who're you?_ I asked.

_I'm your conscience,_ it replied. Great, I'm talking to myself now, and myself is talking back. I'm going crazy!!

_I'm not jealous! _ I replied.

_Oh yes you are. Maybe you don't want to admit it, but you like Alynna. You're jealous that someone else is giving her attention and she likes it. _That's not possible.

_Impossible,_ I told myself. _I can't like Alynna. I like her friend, whatever her name is. _

_ You can tell yourself whatever you want. But I know you, and you like Alynna. _The voice was quiet then.

"And for you, Sir?" the waiter asked. I must have missed Alynna ordering while I was talking to myself. "Um, I'll have the Monte Cristo sandwich…please," I said. I glanced over at Alynna and she was smiling contentedly.

"Ok, I'll have that right out for you." The waiter…Alex left and I looked back over at the pretty girl sitting across from me.

"Good job," she said. "You've made it hard on me by ordering a sandwich, but I'll do the best I can. You're lucky I got the Chicken Alfredo."

"What's that?" I'd never heard of Chicken Alfredo before. She laughed, sending shivers down my spine.

"It's an Italian pasta dish with chicken, obviously, and a cream sauce," she said.

"Uh huh. Sounds good."

"It is." She unfurled her napkin and placed it in her lap. "Put your napkin in your lap."

"Why?" What was the point in that?

"Because, it's bad manners to have your dirty napkin crumpled up in a pile on the table," she said. I knew she was only trying to help, but these rules were annoying. But, I did it anyways. Remember what you're working for! The food came about twenty minutes later.

"Alright," Alynna said. "What do you do first?

"Is this a trick question?" She laughed again. It sounded like honey, warming my heart. "Umm…" She sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Cut the sandwich in half," she said. Before I could cut into the bread, she stopped me. "No, no. Don't grasp the knife like your going to gut the sandwich. Hold it like this." She put a finger on the top of her own knife and curled her fingers around it. I followed suit; it felt so awkward.

"What does it matter? None of this makes any sense to me."

"It doesn't have to make sense. It's the principal of the thing. If you don't have good manners and you're rude, that's the only way people will see you. I know you're not really like that…I think, but other people need to see it too," she said. Suddenly, I felt that same strange sensation I'd felt when I first saw Alynna's friend. What is this I'm feeling?

_Love,_ that annoying voice in my head said to me.

_Go away!_ I shouted. I can't be in love with two people. I didn't even think I could be in love at all!

"Thank you," I said to her. "That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me."

"You can't have met many decent people before then," she said, taking a bite of pasta off of her fork.

"No, I haven't," I admitted.

"Go on, finish your meal," she said. "We're done for today. We'll do it again next Saturday."

"It's a date." Whoa, did I just say that? I looked up quickly, feeling that I needed to apologize for some strange reason. "I just mean that it's a plan. That's all." She chuckled lightly.

"I know, Jim. You don't have to apologize," she said.

I'd never met anyone like Alynna before. She was so conflicting. On one hand, I got the feeling that she didn't want me to be with her friend. But, on the other hand, she was helping me to impress her. I didn't understand Alynna, but I enjoy a little mystery and a challenge. I could see that this was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Or maybe, something more…

**Ok that's it. Please tell me what you think! **

**(These are the songs I listened to while writing this chapter.)**

**Songs of the Chapter: **

**Night Castle: Trans-Siberian Orchestra**

**Faking My Own Suicide: Relient K**

**Mozart and Memories: Trans-Siberian Orchestra**

**Toccata- Carpimus Noctum: Trans-Siberian Orchestra**

**Secrets in the Woods: Anne Dudley**

**Need You Now: Lady Antebellum**

**Deathbed: Relient K **

**Carmina Burana: Trans-Siberian Orchestra**


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